The Boston Bruins are all too aware of how a head injury can alter a player’s career and life off the ice. Patrice Bergeron’s ordeals over the last two seasons have had a sobering effect. And we still don’t know how well the star center will be able to return after his most recent concussion. We also don’t know how susceptible he’ll be down the road.

Two men who are hoping to expand the world’s knowledge on concussions, especially ones suffered in hockey, are Dr. Charles Tator and Dr. Paul Echlin. They are the men behind today’s London Hockey Concussion Summit 2009 in London, Ontario. Jim Kelley wrote a column about the summit this week for sportsnet.ca.

Here’s hoping that this meeting of minds between hockey people and some of the world’s best medical experts gets the ball rolling faster toward better prevention and treatment of head injuries in hockey — not just for Bergeron’s sake, but for the way too many hockey players who’ve been sidelined with concussions the last few seasons.

When the Boston Bruins visit the Washington Capitals tomorrow, it won’t just be a match-up of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. It’ll also be a battle between two of the league’s best coaches — ’08 Jack Adams Award winner Bruce Boudreau of the Caps and ’09 Jack Adams front-runner Claude Julien.

Boudreau’s impact on the Caps was felt last year, when he led them from the doldrums of the conference to a Southeast Division title. This year, his masterful coaching has helped the club overcome even more injuries to key players than the Bruins have battled. Boudreau’s skill was on display again Wednesday is his team’s win over Pittsburgh. Stephen Whyno explains in the Washington Times.

Also in the Times, Bob Cohn explains how goaltender Jose Theodore is trying to regain his MVP form while in a Caps sweater.

When he started the season with five goals in the Boston Bruins’ first three games, center Marc Savard said he was going to try to shoot more and expand his resume beyond his famous playmaking production.

After scoring one of the Bruins’ two goals in their 2-1 win over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum last night, Savard now has four goals in his last eight games. Of course, in the games between his hot start to the season and his recent uptick in lamp-lighting, he scored just six goals. So does that make him a streak scorer? Maybe, but more than anything it makes him a player who’s aware of what his team needs and when to provide it.

“I wanted to shoot the puck more this year. And obviously with Kess going down and Looch out, I’ve got to put more pucks to the net,” said Savard, who was skating a bulk of the first half of the season with Phil Kessel and Milan Lucic and has now had Chuck Kobasew on his wing for more than a week. “Obviously, Chucky’s going to drive to the net. He scores most of his goal from blue paint, so I’m trying to put the puck there and he’s getting there. We’re going to get some. We’re close.”

Savard’s career-high for goals is 28, so he’s actually within reach of that mark. Once the Bruins get Kessel and Lucic back, Savard might again start to take a backseat. But it wont’ be because he’s been discouraged from shooting.

“There’s times where he has good players with him, but you can’t keep passing up on shots even when you have good players with you,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “We’ve encouraged him to shoot more and whether it’s the circumstances now that are helping him to do that more, he’s doing it. And I guess that’s what matters.”

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — You’ve seen him slam his stick against the ice. You’ve seen him smash it on the crossbar. You’ve even seen him push the net off its magnets and wave his arms in the air.

Typically, when Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas loses a shutout on a late goal, he doesn’t hide his emotions. But tonight when he let in the New York Islanders’ lone goal — a Bill Guerin pass that deflected off David Krejci’s skate with the Bruins protecting a 2-0 lead with 53.2 seconds left — Thomas took it in stride. (more…)

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — If it seems like every time you see Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien makes a switch of personnel on his lines the move pays off, you’re eyes do not deceive you.

Moving to David Krejci’s line helped awaken Marco Sturm and then Michael Ryder. Moving to Stephane Yelle’s line jump started Milan Lucic, and the subsequent switch of Chuck Kobasew to Marc Savard’s line made an impressive impact.

Whether by design or forced by injury, Julien’s shuffles have all brought money-winning hands. In the Bruins’ 2-1 win over the New York Islanders tonight at Nassau Coliseum, Julien’s swap of two players on his third and fourth lines paid off handsomely.

Vladimir Sobotka started the night on a line with Yelle and Petteri Nokelainen, while Byron Bitz began the night flanking Martin St. Pierre along with Shawn Thornton. When the second period started, Sobotka and Bitz switch spots — a change that remained for the rest of the evening. (more…)

The Bruins have now won four in a row overall and will roll into Washington for a match-up of division leaders Saturday knowing full well they didn’t produce their best effort in the first game of their two-game road trip, as they were outshot, 41-27, and outworked for stretches.

The Bruins, who have to face Washington Saturday at the Verizon Center, couldn’t have been encouraged much by superstar Alexander Ovechkin breaking out of a four-game goal drought with two scores. But at least the Bruins can take solace in the fact that he won’t be waiting to bust out against them.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The Boston Bruins’ clash with the New York Islanders tonight at Nassau Coliseum marks a bit of an anniversary.

The last time the Bruins and Isles met — a TD Banknorth Garden matinee Nov. 28 won by the Bruins 7-2 — Bruins head coach Claude Julien placed Michael Ryder on the right wing of a line featuring David Krejci and Blake Wheeler on the other side for the first time in game action. That afternoon, Ryder responded with two goals (he’d scored only three on the season up to that point) and the Bruins’ second line started its ascension toward challenging for first-line status.

When asked after the Bruins’ morning skate if that was the turning point of his season, Ryder downplayed the situation.

“For me, I think early in the year I was getting chances and I wasn’t scoring. I guess Claude changed his lines around and he tried me with (Krejci) and Wheels and we just seemed to have a chemistry there and things were going well,” said Ryder, who’s tied for second on the team with Krejci with 17 goals. “From there, probably our confidence was up a little more and the puck’s been finding the back of the net.” (more…)

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The Boston Bruins might do well to wear construction-worker hard hats when they visit the Nassau Coliseum today rather than their regular hockey helmets.

The New York Islanders are a disaster area.

Since the calendar turned to ’09, the Islanders are 0-5-0. And they’ve been outscored 19-13 over that span. Things are ugly on Long Island and might be getting uglier. With Rick DiPietro battling a balky knee and Joey MacDonald suffering a groin injury Tuesday, the Isles could be forced to use No. 3 on their depth chart — Yann Danis — between the pipes. Heck, goaltending coach Mike Dunham was ready to sign up and suit up Tuesday is necessary. (more…)

The best way to describe Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference’s situation right now is that he was ahead of schedule and now he’s back working in the timeframe of his initial prognosis from after he broke his foot Nov. 13 and then had surgery to repair the fractured tibia.

Originally, Ference was supposed to be out, in a worst-case scenario, eight to 10 weeks. He started light skating just after Christmas, and even joined the team for some full workouts for a few days around New Year’s. But he suffered a setback Jan. 5, when he left practice before its completion.

Now Ference is back to skating on his own before his teammates and progressing toward a return within the original timetable.

“Not bad,” he said today about how he feels after he skated at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington. “It’s still not super great. I kind of took some big steps and now it’s been baby steps for the last little bit. I’m not ready to do the hard drills yet. So I’m kind of waiting for that, the next step.”

When he first had the surgery, Ference said he thought that was the best way to go. Nothing has changed his opinion.

“I still definitely feel that way. I was able to skate and work out fairly early. So I don’t know if it’d be the exact same if I didn’t get it done,” he said. “But I feel good about the rehab, and solid about it, and it feels good. You definitely have to be at a pretty high level before you play hockey in the NHL. It’s one thing to feel good and healed up from the surgery, but it’s a whole other thing to get back to a level where you’re playing good professional hockey.”

Ference left with the Bruins for their two-game road trip to Long Island and Washington. He’s scheduled to do some skating and other workouts with strength and conditioning coach John Whitesides, who is also making the trip. And Ference said his goal is to get into some line drills by next week.

WILMINGTON, Mass. — While recovering Boston Bruins players Andrew Ference, Manny Fernandez, Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic were scheduled to make the team’s road trip to Long Island for Thursday’s game and Saturday’s game in Washington, defenseman Aaron Ward was scheduled to stay back.

Ward re-aggravated a charley horse he suffered last week when he was hit from behind by Montreal’s Andrei Kostitsyn in last night’s win over Montreal.

Bruins head coach Claude Julien said that Ward and the trainers were speculating the veteran could return within a week, but there’s no way to accurately predict the timetable. Matt Lashoff was recalled to take Ward’s spot among the Bruins’ top six.

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Out since the weekend with “general soreness,” Boston Bruins goaltender Manny Fernandez joined nine of his teammates on the Ristuccia Arena ice for a lighthearted optional practice today.

This was Fernandez’s second day back on the ice, as he skated with Andrew Ference, Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron before the Bruins’ pregame skate yesterday.

“It was a good rest. I needed it to some degree – just give the body a couple days just to get back. That was the main concern. But everything was good today,” said Fernandez.

As for getting back in the flow with only a few shooters on the ice, Fernandez said, “Surprisingly, I didn’t lose too much. I thought I was going to be worse than that. But I got what I needed off today and it’s a work in progress. Tomorrow’s going to be another big day and then we’ll go from there.” (more…)

WILMINGTON, Mass. — It seems that Montreal winger Andrei Kostitsyn’s hit from behind on Boston defenseman Aaron Ward last night has provided a little more fuel for the fire roaring in the rivalry between Bruins head coach Claude Julien and Canadiens bench boss Guy Carbonneau.

The hit resulted in a five-minute boarding penalty, which turned the momentum in the Bruins’ favor. Zdeno Chara scored the game-winning goal while Kostitsyn was in the box.

After the game, Carbonneau had this to say:

“I didn’t think it should’ve been a major; in fact, I’ve looked at it and I don’t think it was a penalty.”

After the game, Julien expressed his disappointment with the hit and the fact that, he said, Kostitsyn had throw similar hits in the past. Today Julien lessened his anger but still didn’t side with his Habs counterpart and future All-Star Game coaching partner.

“I don’t think it was a vicious hit, as far as the league needs to look into it. The referee made a decision. And I think, honestly, that call could’ve gone either way,” Julien said today after his team’s optional on-ice practice.

When informed of Carbonneau’s opinion, Julien then said: “Maybe (it should’ve been) a two instead of a five. Saying everything is clean is maybe not that accurate. We’re trying to cut down on hits from behind.”

Last season, Julien and Carbonneau exchanged heated words from bench to bench during a March game. And then there were plenty of veiled verbal attacks during the seven-game playoff series in April. Now this. Oh to be a fly on the wall at the first Eastern Conference coaches’ meeting in Montreal next weekend.